NIKITA KUMARI Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Manoj Tandon, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. Jai Prakash, learned A.A.G.-IA appearing for the respondent-State.

(2.) The prayer in the writ petition is made for quashing the letter dtd. 28/10/2023, contained in Annexure-6 issued by the Circle Officer, Sahibganj Sadar, whereby, the caste certificate issued in the name of the petitioner has been cancelled. The further prayer is made for direction to respondent no.2 to allow the petitioner to appear in the first professional examination of MBBS first year for the Session 2022-23. The prayer is also made to declare that since the father of this petitioner as well as mother of this petitioner, both have been issued caste certificates in the category of Scheduled Caste in the years 1981 and 2002 respectively and both are working in Government Services, as such, caste certificates issued to the petitioner cannot be doubted. The further prayer is made for quashing the decision dtd. 5/1/2024, contained in Annexure-11 taken by respondent no.2, whereby, the petitioner has been debarred from all educational work.

(3.) Mr. Manoj Tandon, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the father of this petitioner was issued caste certificate from Sahibganj district itself prior to bifurcation of the State on 25/8/1981, contained in Annexure-1. Similarly, the caste certificate of the mother of this petitioner was issued on 24/9/2002, contained in Annexure-2 and, thereafter, caste certificate was also issued in favour of the petitioner on 15/4/2017 belongs to Scheduled Caste category in view of her caste and again the caste certificate was issued in favour of the petitioner on 27/12/2021 saying that the petitioner belongs to the Scheduled Caste category in view of her caste. He further submits that on the basis of such caste certificate, the petitioner faced National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (UG) 2022 (in short NEET, 2022) and as per her marks, she was admitted in Medini Rai Medical College, Palamu as MBBS student for the Session 2022-26 and she was admitted in the said College on 3/11/2022 by way of Annexure-5. He then submits that respondent no.2 wrote a letter to the Circle Officer, Sahibganj to verify the caste certificate of this petitioner and pursuant to that, Annexure-6 was issued cancelling the caste certificate of this petitioner. He submits that the father and mother of this petitioner, both are of same caste and their caste certificates have been issued by the State of Jharkhand only and in view of that, the caste of the petitioner cannot be doubted. He also submits that on flimsy ground, the caste certificate of the petitioner has been cancelled by the Circle Officer, Sahibganj without providing any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and show-cause. He further submits that the Government of Jharkhand has come up with the circular, contained in Annexure-G of the counter affidavit filed by the respondent-State, wherein, it has been disclosed in Clause 11 that the caste certificate will be issued on the basis of caste of father of the applicant. He then submits that the issue in question was the subject matter before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Pankaj Kumar v. State of Jharkhand and others, reported in 2021 SCC OnLine SC 616, wherein, it has been held that if the father and mother, both are of the same State and caste certificates have been issued to them by the same State, based on that the caste certificate of the sibling will be issued. He refers to paragraphs 29, 30, 53, 54 and 55 of the said judgment, which read as under: